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House Rules
If you have not read the above section on Basic Rules or are unfamiliar with it, go back and check it out! It is very important to running any Dungeons & Dragons story/campaign smoothly. House Rules Now that you are familiar with the basics, there are several rules that may be implemented or changed in various D&D campaigns based on your DM (Dungeon Master). This is to keep specifc campaign or gamplay aspects streamlined so that all players may enjoy the story. These "House Rules" may vary from DM to DM, so it is important to keep track! The following list of House Rules, created by our DM, applies to our campaign: 'Rule Clarification: Being Prone' I think we're all familiar with the fact that being prone means you grant combat advantage to melee attackers, and you take -2 to your own attack rolls, but did you know that you can also fall prone on your turn as a Minor Action? Naturally, your next question is, why would I want to fall down and grant attackers +2 combat advantage? Answer: Being prone grants combat advantage to melee attackers only. While prone, ranged attacks actually get -2 to their attack rolls against you. Of course, once you are prone, you need to spend a Move Action to get back up. Details... So next time you're under heavy ranged fire, think about falling prone and crawling out of harm's way. And maybe think twice before knocking an enemy prone when your allies are shooting ranged attacks. TAKE HOME MESSAGE: Prone = +2 to melee attacks against you, -2 to ranged attacks against you; -2 to your attack rolls. While prone, you move half your speed, and can spend a Move Action to stand up. This Move Action does not provoke opportunity attacks. 'Rule Clarification: Concealment vs. Invisibility' For example, up until now we've been treating the effects of the Warlock abilities Eyebite and Shadow Walk as practically the same. Upon closer reading, however, it is noted that Eyebite grants you invisibility, while Shadow Walk '''grants you '''concealment. The difference? When you are invisible, the target can't see you at all, and has to guess where you might be. When concealed, the target can attack you as normal, but with an attack roll penalty. To make things more confusing, invisibility and concealment are both subcategories under the bigger category of "Concealment Rules," and each status is treated differently depending on if you're on the DM side or the PC side. Long story short, because you're a PC, we'll treat invisibility as granting Total Concealment, while "concealment" from Shadow Walk grants you Light Concealment. I'll sum it up below: Eyebite --> You are invisible to the target (AKA Total Concealment) --> Target takes -5 penalty to attack rolls against you. Shadow Walk --> You gain concealment (AKA Light Concealment) --> Enemies take -2 penalty to attack rolls against you. 'Player Knowledge vs. Character Knowledge' Here's a scenario: Alice, Ben, and Cal are playing a campaign with their respective characters Aeowyn, Baltor, and Cecil. The trio is exploring a complex underground cave system when Baltor stumbles upon a hidden passage. The DM explains to the group that the entrance to the passage appears to be manmade and very old, then he asks the players what they would like to do. Alice immediately decides to do a History Check to see if Aeowyn knows anything about the architecture of the passage or about who might have constructed it. She rolls a 17, and Aeowyn correctly recalls that the tunnels in this particular cave system were carved out by an ancient tribe of Minotaurs. Intrigued by this new information, Alice decides that Aeowyn wants to explore the passage to see if there's any Minotaur treasure inside! Ben and Cal are initially enthusiastic about entering the mysterious passage as well, until Cal remembers the terrifyingly huge Minotaur figurine that the DM showed him earlier before the game started. Ben remembers the figurine too, and is excited about letting Baltor go toe-to-toe with the fearsome beast. On the other hand, Cal believes that if the party enters the passage, they will encounter a Giant Minotaur that they have little chance of defeating, and refuses to let Cecil follow the rest of the party into the passage... Okay, this is a classic dilemma in RPGs. Cal (the player) knows something that Cecil (his character) does not, and uses his outside knowledge of the game to influence his character's decisions inside the game. The question is, how much should players allow their outside knowledge to affect the flow of the game? I think that we can all agree that Cal is guilty of mixing together his player knowledge and his character knowledge in a negative way, which is something we want to avoid. But the flip side is that Ben is also mixing his player knowledge and character knowledge--the difference being that Ben actually wants to fight the monster (possibly to the group's detriment). I think the heart of the matter here isn't that Cal and Ben are confusing what they know with what their characters know, but rather that they are confusing what they want with what their characters want. Hypothetically, even if both the characters Cecil and Baltor know about the Minotaur in the next room, they may still make the same decisions that the players controlling them did. Personally, as a DM, I don't find this a problem. What I do find troublesome is if Cecil was a bloodthirsty warrior with a vendetta against Minotaurs, or if Baltor was deathly afraid of anything with horns. If either of these was true, then the players have let their outside knowledge affect the game in a manner that is inconsistent with what their characters would have done. And as a result, he held up the game. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: You really can't win or lose in a role-playing game. The fun comes from interacting with the other players and characters around the table. And speaking as a DM, all we want is for everyone to have fun. Bottom line: these are your characters. You created them based on attributes that you thought would be fun to play...so remember to play with them! Talk to each other, plan things out, share your opinions, and do what you want. Just remember that the point is to have fun, and to not infringe on the right of the other players to have fun too! And if you absolutely must use your outside knowledge in-game, back up your character's deicions with some role-playing. You might learn something new about your character and add some more depth to the campaign. 'New Rule -- Improved Action Point System' Action Points are a great way to decrease lameness and increase epicness in an encounter. But how can we increase epicness even more? Answer: Modified Eberron Action Point Rules. How it used to work: You could spend an Action Point on your turn, allowing you to take an additional Standard Action. Action Points could be earned over time, but didn't come back once you used them. Additionally, you only had one Action Point to start with. You could earn more, but the unused ones disappeared after an Extended Rest. How it works now: After an Extended Rest, or at the beginning of the day, you will start with 3 Action Points. More Action Points can still be earned, but each Extended Rest you take resets your total back to 3. You can now spend Action Points in more than one way: 1. After any d20 roll, spend 1 Action Point to roll a d6 and add the result to your d20 roll. You may do this several times during your turn if you have enough action points. 2. During your turn, spend 2 Action Points to take an additional Standard Action. You may do this once per turn. 3. During your turn, spend 3 Action Points to recharge any Encounter Power you have previously used. You may now use this Encounter Power again during the encounter. Why are we doing it this way? Simply put, this new system will give you some more strategic options. Spending 1 Action Point lets you improve an unwanted d20 result, which is a huge plus. On the other hand, if you save up your Action Points, they could help you get out of some really sticky situations. I may tweak these rules as we go along, but I think this is a good place to start, and a fun new system to try out. 'New Rule -- Healing Surges and Second Wind' Healing Surges are like little rushes of adrenaline that adventurers can use to permanently recover hit points (HP). From here on out, using Healing Surges will be your main means of healing yourself both in and outside of encounters. How it used to work: ' ''In an encounter: Whenever you wanted, you could use a Healing Surge as a minor action during your turn. Outside of an encounter: You never used Healing Surges outside of combat. Instead, you relied upon a Cleric's Healing Word ability, or a Paladin's Lay on Hands ability. In this way, you were able to fully recover all your HP during a short rest. '''How it works now: In an encounter: As an Encounter Power, during your turn, you may use Second Wind as a Standard Action to spend a Healing Surge and recover HP. Additionally, you may spend a Healing Surge if using another power or ability allows you to do so. Outside of an encounter: You may use as many Healing Surges as you like when you are not in an encounter. However, you only have a limited number of Healing Surges per day. In order to get your Healing Surges back, you must take an Extended Rest (i.e. a long rest of more than 8 hours). Of course, you may still use Healing Surges in conjunction with powers like Healing Word or Lay on Hands to recover even more HP. Why are we doing it this way? First of all, this way is closer to the official rules. Secondly, I think it adds a degree of realism to the game. You really have to start thinking strategically about when you should heal and when you should take an extended rest. It also encourages you to assess your battle plan as a team. If everyone is down to one or two Healing Surges and you're about to be forced into a fight as some hobgoblins ram down the door, who should your Cleric heal? Who do you need to protect during the fight? Maybe you want to let someone stay bloodied so he or she can use an ability that gets stronger when they are bloodied, but then try to heal them right after. Category:Our Campaign